the abyss means...

I was coming home today from another tedious visit to the jobcentre when I saw three buses in a row. That, in itself, is not unusual. The thing that pleased me was that they were in alphabetical order. First the 5. Then the 5a, hot on its heels. Bringing up the rear was the 5b.

The buses in Brighton all have names.

I have a reason for mentioning it. Bear with me.

Slightly further along the road I passed the Cowley Club, which still has not opened even after several months of work. (I must remember to ask about that, as I remember there were fears that it would be foreclosed.)

HecticJames had told me recently about how he had been reading about Harry Cowley and I realised it was likely that the Cowley Club was named after him:

From the 1920s to the 60s wherever there was a radical ruckus local campaigner Harry Cowley and his gang would be at the centre of it. Waves of squatting in Brighton after both world wars to house homeless families, driving the blackshirts of the streets, feeding the poor, running social events and unemployed centres, rioting to defend cheap food, mobilising pensioners. Throughout their lives the Cowleys [Harry and Harriet were a husband and wife team] did practical work needed, favouring direct action outside political parties. When Harry died in the '70s the turnout made his funeral the biggest Brighton has seen.

The connection? Harry Cowley also has a bus named after him.

That made me happy.
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UPDATE: Article about Harry Cowley.

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